Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, says some of the vehicles recovered by the EFCC were auctioned to the Presidential Villa, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as well as the Federal Inland Revenue Services and other agencies.
In a letter to the Justice Ayo Salami-led panel in response to an earlier report by the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets in which Magu was accused of being unable to account for the interest accrued to N550bn recovered funds as well as recovered vehicles and houses, titled, ‘Re: Alleged Case of Conspiracy, Enrichment, Abuse of Public Office and Other Infractions,’ he explained how some of the recovered vehicles were auctioned.
“On allocation of vehicles to some government agencies through special auction with presidential approval. The beneficiary agencies are: the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management of which the valued price is to be debited from their allocation; State House, National Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons; Federal Inland Revenue Service and National Directorate of Employment.”
“Some of these agencies had not paid for the vehicles but there was an arrangement that the money would be deducted from their financial allocation” he stated in the Letter.
The suspended EFCC boss said about 450 other vehicles, which had been recovered, had yet to be sold despite receiving presidential approval to do so.
“The commission presently has presidential approval to dispose over 450 forfeited vehicles located in Lagos and Abuja. The vehicles have been valued by the National Automotive Council Valuers and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. But no sale/disposal has been conducted yet,” Magu stated.
Furthermore, Magu explained that some of the houses permanently forfeited to the Federal Government by looters had also been handed over to some agencies of the government like the Voice of Nigeria, North -East Development Commission and the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate while some were being rented by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Nigerian Army and other agencies of government. The letter equally mentioned that the commission also temporarily handed over property in Lagos to the Lagos State Government for use as isolation centres for COVID-19 patients.
